I Reached for Her Hand (and Held It)
by Nameless Knight
Summary: Byleth reflects on the events that led to this confrontation, and the path beyond it. Spoilers for Black Eagles' Chapter 11. And the whole route beyond.
1. Chapter 1

_This may be the last we see of each other._

No. It wasn't.

The ax dropped from Edelgard's hand, the shield fell, she drew breath and closed her eyes, accepted her loss to Byleth. To her teacher.

She was stronger than this. Faster, more ferocious. The Flame Emperor's armor was not heavy enough to hinder her such. She had another burden. A heavier burden.

_Despite what I said I have no intention of killing you._

Could he believe that?

Rhea's words twisted and sneered as she condemned her. Judgement from the Goddess already passed.

But why? Why force a confrontation? Even had she fought to her utmost he was the better and she knew that. Knew those soldiers could not defeat the Black Eagles. Some scheme in the dark, some contingency from Hubert? Why? what purpose did it serve?

_Something about you makes me reveal all of the things I so carefully keep concealed._

Because it had to be. The confrontation was the point.

_...someday he will appear before you without his mask…_

One without that mask.

_If you wish to join forces, I will hear your plea._

Because what she said back then was not a sick, twisted joke.

The moment that battle was over she came to plead her case. Could not wait to explain herself. Ask for his hand.

_Do you believe all these incidents are connected, Professor? _

_It's even more revolting… more terrible than I expected._

The disappearances. The disgust. She had been trying to tell him all this time. He had just refused to see it.

Had he given it then, would Jeralt still be alive? Would she have turned on Kronya and Solon? A question she'd already answered.

Would Sothis still be then?

Or was she too hand-in-hand with their killers to ever side with?

_If the Flame Emperor truly wishes to make use of your power… Perhaps someday he will appear before you without his mask, and you can look in his eyes and decide what you believe._

Byleth looked into her eyes. Icy-blue and beautiful. Striking even when they first met. When he sacrificed his life for hers. She did not flinch, did not stagger. Understood the fate this path had carved. Stone-faced as possible. Another thing she could not best him in. He saw it. Beyond the front and bluff. The truth.

All of it. _All of it_ done for his sake.

So much from everyone for him.

"Kill the traitor!"

To side with Edelgard was to betray the Church and everything they'd done for him. For a woman who'd just been after his life. The lives of her friends. Kidnapped Flayn, worked with his father's murderers, Remire's butchers, tortured students. Those who forced Sothis's sacrifice.

Only a fool would put his trust in Edelgard.

_I appreciate your help back there. Your skill is beyond question._

_Your skill is precisely why I must ask you to consider lending your skills to the Empire._

_I've never told anyone about my past before._

_All I can do is promise to reach out my hand when it's time for me to move forward._

_Thank you for all that you have done for me._

_My teacher… There is a choice to be made. I hope you make the right one._

_I will build a world where such meaningless sacrifice is never again sanctioned. As emperor, I will change the world. I swear it._

Sothis always did call him one.

He reached out and took her hand. Sword of the Creator aimed at the archbishop.

"My teacher…"

He would protect her.

Protect that smile she gave him. Protect the memories they shared. The ideal she championed. Protect her. Now, and forever.


	2. Chapter 2

He was not the only one. The Black Eagles all to their side. Fled with all their might before the enemy that presented itself.

Together, save one. Unified in path and purpose. Truth laid bare and true. Suspicions were confirmed.

In private she offered him an out. The question she asked behind a mask, but did not without. Yet every act a cry out. To find the truth hidden within. Now, with no pressure, no spur, no promise of bloodshed and death. A choice all his own.

And he held her hand. "I chose this path too."

Elation and relief not seen even in the Holy Tomb. Equals by choice, not threat.

This was right. Even with the cost to come.

They marched to free the world.

* * *

Traitor hung in the air thick as smoke as the Imperial army burned the outskirts of Garreg Mach Monastery. Dawn's sky black as night. Betrayal after betrayal. Surprise and hatred flew as freely as blood. Sacrificing so no more would be. Hypocrisy and he cared. But this was the path he cut. Beyond ally turned foe. Beyond foe turned ally.

The Blues Lions could not stop them. Dimitri hurled profanity that crushed even the screams of battle. His might and fury as much a weakness as a strength when turned correctly. The Golden Deer could not stop them; Claude's clever schemes could not overturn the hands of time. The Knights of Seiros could not stop them. Thunder Catherine, near death from Death Knight, sent away by swift strike from Byleth. The Imperial advance could not be stopped.

Rhea would not stop them.

Her face contorted and snarled, twisted in savage rage. A picture perfect to match a demonic beast. She glowed and yelled and sword met sword and sword met ax and sword met spell and the archbishop bled and fell. But all that fury and hate swelled in light and form: Immaculate One.

Breath of light and heat and tower-wall gone. A foe beyond. With reckless courage and friendship forcing him he fought the beast-staggered and distracted. Edelgard and Hubert looked on, too exhausted but yet she yearned-and retainer stopped her. Gratitude deepest from professor to student and student to professor.

Time and time he dodged, time bought for more to come, but even the divine had limits. One blow was enough to send him reeling. Body lost to chasm of darkness and mind soon with it. But they were safe. She was safe. He could die knowing that. Die again knowing that.

* * *

He didn't die. Or maybe he did and just returned again.

But he did return, and returned to the place that mattered most.

There he was, in the Goddess Tower, and there she was. The promise of five years ago sealed and delivered. Resplendent in red, crowned in authority, a crimson flower in the light of dawn. And all the poise and dignity she'd armored herself with hurled aside as Edelgard tearfully embraced him. Arms around his neck. Holding herself off the ground to do so. Holding so tight they may never part.

"Welcome back, my teacher"

* * *

War and battle fought. Five years's stalemate ended in one month and a country in two. Battle and sacrifice, desperate peace and parley. Side by side they fought on. As equals, and partners.

Those moments between, that brought a smile to his lips, time with Edelgard. Pictures, and truths and cute embarrassment. Every day sublime. Every time they talked another reason to take her side and every second with her only made it more true. Forward as equals. To call her El, one day.

* * *

The end of this war in the light loomed. All those that stood by prepared themselves for what might be their greatest battle. Their end. Long held affections and friendships blossomed. Promises and oaths made.

At his father's final resting place he found himself. Dawn light shading it a peaceful hue. A mother he never knew besides a father he barely did. But those days learning a sword, commanding the band, learning to swim or fish or fight. All held precious now that he was gone. Every word a treasure. Including those that brought him here.

Would someone treasure memories of him should he die a final, final death?

Edelgard?

_I hope you give this to someone you love, as much as I love her._

The words flashed the moment she came to mind.

How-when-why?

Their secret meetings? Where she longed for an equal and always treated him as such. Their reunion? How he rushed to meet her again, despite but moments passing between. Siding with her in the Holy Tomb? Certainly, when he challenged the world for her sake.

But was that just it? Even further back… the Goddess Tower… How she looked, reflected in the moonlight, when she regaled him of the love her parents shared. Perhaps that was when he first thought of the word entirely.

Yet everything that pushed him to her side in the Tomb drifted even further back.

All the way to the moment they met.

From the very first moment, even if he didn't understand. When he moved to protect her life at the cost of his own. Composed even in the face of death. Powerfully strong, strikingly beautiful. Calm, yet passionate. Cool, yet fiery. Brilliant and eager and idealistic.

And what lied beneath that. The vulnerable young girl who just wanted to laze about eating sweets. Doodling pictures of him. Her fears. Her desire to confide. Her trust. All the parts that made her so very human.

She'd said they were similar. Always with that look of admiration in her eye. But she was also everything he wished to be. Beyond the Ashen Demon. Beyond the heartless warrior. As he taught her she taught him. Her words at the Goddess Tower for both of them, he only now understood. Hand-in-hand.

He wanted to spend the rest of his life together with her.

With El.

* * *

A final strike in unison between those who walked the path together. A sad roar that brought an end to a thousand years of history. A bright new dawn for Fodlan. And them.

The practiced hand of death gripped his unbeating heart once more. All strength faded. Time slipping from his grasp. Familiar but so cold, so empty, so unlike before. The final death.

Dying for her a third time. Once more her face the last thing he'd see. He'd have preferred the long version of spending the rest of their lives together, but there were worse ways to go Still a lout for making her cry again, though.

And he felt. Something odd in his chest. A pounding that had never been before.

And he felt something he didn't want. Tears on his cheek, even in the scorching heat.

His eyes opened. To her face. Sorrow swiftly replaced by joy. Locked eyes, linked hearts and held hands.

* * *

He'd faced death countless times but this scared him more than near anything. Had he misread the whole thing? Her feelings? His own feelings? There would be no more turning back the hands of time. No undoing this should it prove a mistake.

But one look at her banished all those doubts. That odd beating in his chest, so cumbersome, yet so wanted. Loud as thunder at the words they shared.

And the promise they made.

Sealed with a ring.

He reached for her hand and held it. To brave Fódlan's new dawn. To face the future. Together.

* * *

**AN: Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following all my FE3H stories.**


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